Paging File, is it needed?

[Chez Bippy]

I have 1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM, and I keep my paging file turned off. I recently heard that this isn't a good idea, no matter how much RAM you have, and it provides no performance increase over having it enabled.

Also when I open up Photoshop it tells me that it isn't recomended having the paging file turned off.

All i'm asking is if there is a difference in performance either way when the paging file is on or off?

 

[Hazar]

I would leave it on just in case. You probably won't use it much though.

 

[DarkStar]

From http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=324&dPage=6:

Virtual Memory Settings Below - Very Important!

Memory management in WindowsXP is different to that under the older Win95/98/ME Windows series. No matter how much physical RAM you have on your system, your Virtual Memory (aka the Swapfile or Pagefile) settings will have a major impact on your system's performance. The information on Virtual Memory below is sourced from this definitive Virtual Memory in WinXP Guide. I highly recommend you read the guide for precise details of what VM is and what it does.

To access the Virtual Memory settings, go to the Control Panel>System>Advanced>Performance>Settings>Advanced>Virtual Memory section and click the Change button. Then follow these steps:

1. If you have only one hard drive, skip to step 2. If you have more than one hard drive, you should put the main pagefile on the drive which doesn't contain your Windows installation and applications/games. This will reduce hard drive head movement on the main disk and speed up access to the pagefile. To do this, first select the appropriate drive under the Drive window, then continue.

2. Under the next section select the "No Paging File" option and click the Set button. Reboot as requested then continue to step 3. This is done to clear the existing pagefile (curing any pagefile corruption), and make sure that the new pagefile you make will start off in one single contiguous block on your hard drive. The pagefile cannot be defragmented using the Defrag tool, so it's important that you start with a single unfragmented pagefile for optimal performance.

3. Back in the Virtual Memory window, you should select the "Custom Size" option. Now here comes the tricky part. There are many differing opinions on just how big or small the pagefile should be. One rule every expert agrees on however is never ever set your pagefile=0, regardless of how much RAM you have. WinXP needs a pagefile in order to operate correctly. Setting the pagefile to zero does not speed up your WinXP by forcing XP to "just use my RAM"...it doesn't work that way - refer to the guide above for more details.

As a rule of thumb, and to make sure you have plenty of Virtual Memory (to avoid crashes and errors), I suggest setting the Initial Size to the same amount as your physical RAM. E.g if you have 512MB of RAM, set the initial pagefile size to 512MB. For the Maximum Size, I suggest something very large, particularly as modern games and applications are very memory hungry. Since your system's total Virtual Memory is the sum of your RAM + Pagefile, as a general rule I recommend making sure your RAM + Pagefile is a very large amount such as 2GB or even higher. E.g. if you have 512MB of RAM, set the Maximum Size value for the Pagefile to 1500MB or more. If you still have doubts, choose "System Managed Size" to be totally safe.

4. Once you've adjusted these settings click the Set button.

Your pagefile is now set optimally, and you will have plenty of Virtual Memory to play with, while at the same time avoiding the myth that you will free up your RAM by setting a small Pagefile size.

 

[Chez Bippy]

Thanls for the info!